10/08/2004

10/07/2004

Could someone please add me to the Sonotheque mailing list? I picked up the Reader today and read that both Prefuse 73and Aesop Rockwill be spinning Friday night at Sonotheque. The listing for the show says 9pm, and I assume the cover is the usual $10.

Def Jux recording artist Aesop Rock is best known for his work as an MC, so it should be interesting to hear how he sounds behind the decks. Scott Herron is the main behind the Prefuse 73 moniker and I don't have any doubt that his peformance will be anything less than stellar. I've seen him play live a couple of times here in town, and his sets are always amazing. That being said, he usually has a full set-up of drum machines, synths and other electronic gadgets at his disposal when he plays, so it should be amusing to see (and hear) what he can do with just two turntables. The Reader is also listing that Herron's Warp label mate Beans (ex-Anti-Pop Consortium) will be appearing at Sonotheque on Oct. 26.

Then, on Saturday (10/9), Sonotheque presents two more big names from the electronic music realm, LTJ Bukem and MC Conrad. LTJ Bukem was a pioneer in Britain's jungle/drum n' bass scene and as a duo, Bukem and MC Conrad have kept the jungle sound alive well past its trendy heyday in the late 90s.

10/06/2004

Chances are you know that Northwestern owns and operates WNUR, WLUW is affiliated with Loyola University and WHPK is based out of the University of Chicago. But did you know that Chicago's School of the Art Institute has a radio station? While you can't pick it up on your FM dial, you can hear some of Chicago's finest art students on the air live on your PC.

Continuing with our "Future of Radio" series on internet radio, RFC takes a look today at Free Radio SAIC.

Billed as "experimental radio from The School of the Art Institute Chicago," Radio Free SAIC strives to be a forum for free expression bringing diverse ideas, unique opinions, and creative concepts to a listening audience.

Many students have tried throughout the years to start a radio station at the school, but the crowded nature of Chicago's airwaves have always made this task virtually impossible.
However, thanks to the popularity of the Internet and the increasing availability of broadband technology, students at the Art Institute were finally able to get a station of their own.

The idea of Free Radio SAIC was initialized during the spring 1999 semester by a group of Chicago Building residents who initiated the task of registering Free Radio SAIC as an official student group. The organization soon came together and by the end of 1999, Free Radio SAIC was conducting pilot broadcasts through the school's closed-circuit TV system. The station continued to broadcast via closed-circuit TV sporadically throughout the next year, but organizers still sought to reach a broader audience via a "real" broadcast available to those outside of the school.

In the summer of 2000, time was spent researching the possibilities of obtaining a Low Power FM license, a new classification recently introduced by the FCC, or streaming audio over the internet. Even with the FCC's new low power licenses available, Free Radio SAIC organizers found out what many student radio proprietors had learned in the past...broadcasting via FM in a city as congested as Chicago is a dead-end.

So, with FM broadcasting firmly out of question, the organization concentrated its efforts toward the Internet, and by the fall 2000 semester, Free Radio SAIC began broadcasting to the world via streaming audio.

Since that time, the station has continued its Internet broadcasts, and today the station boasts a line-up of 24 live DJs broadcasting 36 hours of original programming per week. In addition to its streaming audio broadcasts, the Free Radio SAIC homepage also features music reviews, links to other college radio webstreams, and updated station news in Blog form. Like many other student-run stations, Free Radio SAIC does not broadcast live 24/7 and is off the air during the summer and other semester breaks. However, you can always check out your favorite DJs or programs on their web site anytime via their archived audio streams.

Check out the site for yourself at http://www.artic.edu/webspaces/freeradio/. Aesthically, it's probably the best non-commercial radio web site in the city and overall the station provides yet another great way to hear and discover new sounds in Chicago.

10/01/2004

The Wire’s Adventures in Modern Music 2004 ended last Sunday with Ghost, Xiu Xiu, Noxagt, and Double Leopards. The festival took place at the Empty Bottle for 5 nights and covered every type of ‘adventurous’ music imaginable. The festival also held film screenings at the Gene Siskel Film Theatre, which included a documentary about noisy drum-and-bass duo, Lightning Bolt.

Defying expectations seemed to be the goal of the event, since the music of each band wasn’t really continuous with the other bands. The rough transitions pointed to some subtle similarities though; and the festival proved that connections can be made between the suicidal dance-and-folk of Xiu Xiu with the psychedelic swagger of Ghost, as well as the viola-fronted noise metal of Noxagt with the unconscious drone of Double Leopards. It all made sense...actually it didn’t make sense nor was it supposed to--but I accepted it and kissed it like family, a very strange incestuous family.

I walked into the Empty Bottle past all the product-pushing--merchandise on the pool table?--and was drawn to the loud dissonant drone of Double Leopards. I couldn’t see much until they were done a minute later, when four people stood up from the stage, with all their electronic and acoustic noisemakers at their feet. It was a quick introduction to the night.

Next was Noxagt, a trio from Norway made up of bass, viola, and drums. They played a very tight instrumental metal/rock sound that was heavy on rhythm. Heads consistently banged and bounced as violist, drummer, and bassist removed their shirts in that order. (even a fight broke out of a moshpit and someone was kicked out!...at the oh-so-sophisticated Empty Bottle) All in all,they were a visceral, wordless power that brought to mind the Chicago rock sound of Shellac, albeit with some tasteful distorted viola.

If Noxagt made me feel destructive, Xiu Xiu spat out the reasons why to feel that way. San Francisco’s Xiu Xiu are a very interesting band, and their music of extreme despair seems to provoke a very bipolar reaction in the audience every time I’ve seen them. They played as a duo this time with a setup to keep them both busy at all times: a couple synths, harmoneum, guitars, and the jarring percussion of a triangle, bells, and gongs. They also relied on a drum machine and sampler for their more abrasive songs, and it worked due to their energy and other layers that they added. Their quieter songs were barely audible though: I was nearly in the front row, and I still couldn’t discern notes out of the clamor coming from the back room. Such is the nature of Xiu Xiu though. Their confrontational dynamics are led by Jamie Stewart’s quivering voice, and whether it’s extremely loud or extremely quiet, Xiu Xiu’s musical melodrama always make me feel uncomfortable in my own skin.

So what’s next after doom and gloom? Japanese psychedelic rock and roll? Ghost tore it up most unexpectedly. I was excited to see them, but hadn't actually heard that much of their music. They seemed to channel the 1960’s/70’s experimental-tinged rock sound that spawned Can, Pink Floyd and later Pere Ubu. Their songwriting was tight, full of electric piano ballads, colorful guitar solos, and reverberated vocals. For good psychedelic measure, they also included somebody on sax, bassoon, and flute in order to add some space to their several freak-outs. It was a more classic style of psychedelic rock, but it was also played with the more modern noise-elements.

As last year when I came to the festival, I couldn’t pick a favorite act. Every band was so different, yet they all seemed equal. The Empty Bottle gave me some very diverse music in three hours, got me drunk on a Sunday night, and kicked me on the street as soon as the honest bartender stated: “Leave so I can get drunk.”
-Mike G

"Mike G" is the latest addition to the RFC staff. A devout music fan who frequents many local venues, Mike will be now be sharing his many live show experiences here on RFC.